. >>> president obama will have lunch in just a few hours with mitt romney. it will be the first time they have met face to face since the final debate shortly before this month's election. the event will be held at the white house. it is private, no aides present, no media, just the president and the former gop nominee. they will hash it out. >> should be interesting. >> maybe he will bring mitt into the fold. who knows. >> we'll see. >>> just from the labor department the number of americans filing first time unemployment claims fell last week. the decline comes as impact of superstorm sandy eases a bit. this morning, stock futures are moving higher on encouraging news from washington on the "fiscal cliff" issue. ashley morrison of cbsmoneywatch.com joins us. good morning, ashley. >> reporter: good morning, to you, frank and michelle. asian markets got a lift this morning on growing optimism from debt talks in washington. tokyo's nikkei rose 1% while hong kong's hang seng also gained about 1%. the improvingometer mitchell on the "fiscal cliff" gave wall str